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Cantuccini Plum Cheese Cakelettes

After a pretty (and very needed) relaxing weekend, where Soeren spent the entire weekend at his grandparents' and Tom and I had the weekend to ourselves, the week was quite hectic. In between doctors appointments - I needed to get a check-up again after being so ill the week before last and Soeren needed to get his quarterly check-up to see if the tubes in his ears are still OK - we had our usual weekly routine of music school, library and sports all on the plan.

Furthermore, as I will be traveling on a business trip next week I needed to finish up a few things at work. On top of all that, this was a very important week for Tom too. He was due to give a lecture at the University in Darmstadt, which counted towards his thesis and the Who's Who of many top Universities from around the World were to be attending. So, we practiced his lecture in the evenings or corrected and translated some papers and ... learned how to tie a tie!

The lecture was Thursday (yesterday). On Wednesday we went through the lecture one last time and then, as Tom was to leave really early in the morning he put out his suit and other stuff to wear. He asked me which tie he should wear and I suggested "the yellow one I bought for you!" Note: I have bought all of Tom's ties! But as luck would have it the tie had come undone.

See, Tom cannot tie his ties, he gets his dad to do it for him and then he simply loosens it and slips it off keeping the knot for easy wear the next time. Well I am not very good with ties either so we Googled through the web and believe it or not we found a fantastic site that explained, with pictures, how to tie a tie in many different styles. We've bookmarked this page! Now both of us can tie the "English tie knot" close to perfection. Praise for thee, Google!

The lecture went very well and a few important people are now aware of what Tom is doing. This is great. See, when Tom is finished with his PhD. we plan to make a big move - hopefully out of Germany and hopefully to Dubai!!

To celebrate I decided to make a dessert for dinner. I also decided to kill the proverbial two birds and create a little something for the current session of Hay Hay it's Donna Day being hosted by the awesome Peabody.

Cheesecake - hmmmmn! Cheesecake - yum! Cheesecake - biiiig!

I kind of shy away from making too many big cheesecakes. Simply because they taste too good and we can never resist pigging out on them. I really mean it - we pig out on cheesecake. So, I decided to do the same thing I did here and use my ramekins to make smaller dessert sized portions.

I had a box of cantuccini, plum preserve and cream cheese. The beginning of an interesting cheese cakelette!

I was curious about one thing though. What does Google define as cheesecake. Here are the results. I especially like the last definition LOL!

In a kitchen mixer finely chop the cantuccini. Place the cantuccini crumbs in a bowl and drizzle the melted butter over them. Mix well.

Place four metal rings on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. If you do not have such metal rings you can line ramekin bowls with baking paper or grease them.

Now divide the cantuccini crumbs onto the bottom of the rings/bowls and press down firmly with your fingers. Put into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Divide the plum preserve on top of the canntuccini crust, even out and once again place in the refrigerator for approx. 15 minutes.

In a mixing bowl whisk the cream cheese, sour cream , sugar, eggs and flour into a smooth mixture. Cut open the vanilla bean and with the back of the knife scrape out the inside. Add this to the cream cheese mixture and stir in well.

Pour the mixture evenly into the metal rings and bake for 40 minutes.

Take out and allow to cool and then release each cake from the ring.

Verdict:

Perfect portions for a little dessert. The plum preserve was refreshing and full of aroma. It complemented the almondy cantuccini flavor extremely well. The cheesy topping was moist and soft, which made this a huge success. It was so easy to prepare and took so little time that I am pretty darned sure I'll be making several variations of this in the future.

Thanks everyone for leaving your comments.Gilly They really were and I hope you get around to making them too.

Bri Frozen? Really? Anyway, I think if we get together we'd have a blast cooking and a bigger blast eating!!!

Kristen Thanks.

Nupur Yup, it really is busy. Thanks so much for your wishes. I'll pass it along.

Tanna Yeah - I think you can Google just about anything. Actually Tom gave me a funny look too when I suggested that. Ha!

Mae, I discovered minis myself and find them so practical. Should I let you in on a secret? I do not own a Danna book either. I think it is not really required. The host gives a basic recipe and you have to simply adapt it.

Beautiful cake, I am experincing a sugar rush. I tried my hand at cheesecake before but for some reason I still retain egg smell, which I cannot stand.Is their any special trick to avoid this, would love to know.Good luck on your move and your husband's thesis

Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hello, I am Meeta a freelance food photographer, stylist and writer living in the cuturally rich city of Weimar, Germany with my husband and our son, where I enjoy preparing multi-cultural home cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients. What's for lunch, Honey? is my award winning food blog where I combine my love for food with my love for photography and styling...